Week 41: Next Weekly
Dear Loved Ones,
One year ago this week, October 12, 2018, I was watching a movie with my friends when I got a text from my stake president telling me to meet with him immediately. I knew that couldn't be good. Either I was being barred from serving for the third time in three years, or I was getting a two-transfer call.
I never got a call opening party. I got President Davis showing me this already-opened letter with his name instead of mine as the recipient. I stayed up until 3:00 a.m. crying. The only thing more miserable than a two-transfer call is being barred from serving entirely. I think a lot about how Madison is now in the same place I was and, hopefully, she will one day be where I am.
On October 12, 2019, I got up and went to work. I led tours. I did tracting. I have a missionary life now.
I'm always grateful for the land where I'm serving. This week, all the sisters went on a field trip up to Adam-ondi-Ahman and Far West. I once chatted with an elderly couple in the visitors' center who used to work as landscaping missionaries in Adam-ondi-Ahman. The husband got teary as he related all the impressions he got while working there. He said he could feel Adam's intense and loyal love to Eve and that we have no idea what kind of friendship exists between Adam and Christ. They created a world together!
There are no tour guide missionaries at Adam-ondi-Ahman. People can go there just to check an item off their list and feel absolutely nothing from the place because there's only a few plaques and no one to tell the story. They walk right by Preacher's Rock, where Joseph Smith once gave a sermon, and only see it as an unmarked rock. I stood on Preacher's Rock for a minute and I'll be sending a video of our site director singing from it.
Holy places by themselves don't bring the Spirit. It comes from how you interact with the land. I was looking forward to time to ponder at Adam-ondi-Ahman, but I was quickly reminded that the purpose of sacred places is to use them as backdrop for a photoshoot. "One with all the sisters together. Now one in front of this sign. Now one with all the visitors' center sisters. Now one with all the Liberty Jail sisters. Sister Smith and Sister Barajas, get in the picture!"
Me: (looks over at Sister Barajas reading her patriarchal blessing) "We're pondering!"
"Get in the picture!"
From there, we went to Far West, which has a small Deseret Book-style bookstore. Here we bought pictures and jewelry, but no books, lest we educate ourselves and accidentally add depth and value to our tours. Or worse, go home having learned something. But as is, we'll slide neatly into place on the pews next to the guy I once met who bragged, "On my mission, I learned that the word celestial means heavenly." Fortunately, this conversation took place in a YSA ward, so there were no primary children present to raise an eyebrow.
One of the regulars at the visitors' center is a man named Jim McKay who attends one of the other restoration churches. He loves the Book of Mormon and organized an interfaith symposium around it. I had just finished a tour with a young man who is going on a mission to Paris soon and asked him if he had a Book of Mormon in French. He said he did not, so I raided our stock closet and found him one. Jim rounded the corner, saw me doing this Book of Mormon hand-off, and said, "Read that book! It's true!"
He knows, Jim. He knows and he's going all the way to Paris to tell people about it.
I've decided that one of the key messages of the Book of Mormon is that it teaches that the Americas are a promised land. During his time in the Americas, the Savior said he had other sheep who were neither in the Americas or Jerusalem. There full well could be another ancient book of scripture lurking in a hillside in Japan or Nigeria. So why is the American record the one that got brought to light?
Because we need to know about the people here and how they fell.
One of the key messages of the Doctrine and Covenants is the concept of Zion. The Book of Mormon tells us of this land's past. The Doctrine and Covenants tells us how to build up this land's future. People love to speculate about signs of the times. But there have always been earthquakes and wars and rumors of wars. There has always been enough wickedness in the world. But what there isn't is enough righteousness. If we want to get Independence ready to serve as host to the Second Coming, we have to live righteously and make the whole world ready for the Second Coming.
Now, I have a request of you all. Madison is struggling. If any of you have words of support that I could forward to her, I'll pass them on.
Sincerely,
Sister Smith
One year ago this week, October 12, 2018, I was watching a movie with my friends when I got a text from my stake president telling me to meet with him immediately. I knew that couldn't be good. Either I was being barred from serving for the third time in three years, or I was getting a two-transfer call.
I never got a call opening party. I got President Davis showing me this already-opened letter with his name instead of mine as the recipient. I stayed up until 3:00 a.m. crying. The only thing more miserable than a two-transfer call is being barred from serving entirely. I think a lot about how Madison is now in the same place I was and, hopefully, she will one day be where I am.
On October 12, 2019, I got up and went to work. I led tours. I did tracting. I have a missionary life now.
I'm always grateful for the land where I'm serving. This week, all the sisters went on a field trip up to Adam-ondi-Ahman and Far West. I once chatted with an elderly couple in the visitors' center who used to work as landscaping missionaries in Adam-ondi-Ahman. The husband got teary as he related all the impressions he got while working there. He said he could feel Adam's intense and loyal love to Eve and that we have no idea what kind of friendship exists between Adam and Christ. They created a world together!
There are no tour guide missionaries at Adam-ondi-Ahman. People can go there just to check an item off their list and feel absolutely nothing from the place because there's only a few plaques and no one to tell the story. They walk right by Preacher's Rock, where Joseph Smith once gave a sermon, and only see it as an unmarked rock. I stood on Preacher's Rock for a minute and I'll be sending a video of our site director singing from it.
 |
| Preacher's Rock |
Me: (looks over at Sister Barajas reading her patriarchal blessing) "We're pondering!"
"Get in the picture!"
 |
| Pecans from a grove at Adam-ondi-ahman |
One of the regulars at the visitors' center is a man named Jim McKay who attends one of the other restoration churches. He loves the Book of Mormon and organized an interfaith symposium around it. I had just finished a tour with a young man who is going on a mission to Paris soon and asked him if he had a Book of Mormon in French. He said he did not, so I raided our stock closet and found him one. Jim rounded the corner, saw me doing this Book of Mormon hand-off, and said, "Read that book! It's true!"
He knows, Jim. He knows and he's going all the way to Paris to tell people about it.
I've decided that one of the key messages of the Book of Mormon is that it teaches that the Americas are a promised land. During his time in the Americas, the Savior said he had other sheep who were neither in the Americas or Jerusalem. There full well could be another ancient book of scripture lurking in a hillside in Japan or Nigeria. So why is the American record the one that got brought to light?
Because we need to know about the people here and how they fell.
One of the key messages of the Doctrine and Covenants is the concept of Zion. The Book of Mormon tells us of this land's past. The Doctrine and Covenants tells us how to build up this land's future. People love to speculate about signs of the times. But there have always been earthquakes and wars and rumors of wars. There has always been enough wickedness in the world. But what there isn't is enough righteousness. If we want to get Independence ready to serve as host to the Second Coming, we have to live righteously and make the whole world ready for the Second Coming.
Now, I have a request of you all. Madison is struggling. If any of you have words of support that I could forward to her, I'll pass them on.
Sincerely,
Sister Smith
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